


My Boy

by STARSdidathing



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Affectionate Insults, Alternate Universe - Criminals, Alternate Universe - Modern: No Powers, Criminal!Loki, Dark, Dark Character, Dark Loki (Marvel), Happy Ending, Implied Sexual Content, Insanity, Loki (Marvel) Does What He Wants, Loki (Marvel) Has Issues, M/M, Morally Ambiguous Character, Obsessive Behavior, Prison, Security Specialist!Tony, Tony Stark Does What He Wants, Tony Stark Has Issues, Twisted Romance, Wordcount: 1.000-5.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-09
Updated: 2018-05-09
Packaged: 2019-05-04 04:53:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,989
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14585379
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/STARSdidathing/pseuds/STARSdidathing
Summary: The story of the Joker and Dr Quinzel falling in love, it isn't just a warning or an arc in a comicbook.Sometimes the dangers of living and working in an asylum for the criminally insane are closer than you really think.





	My Boy

**Author's Note:**

> This story. My gosh. This story has almost been around as long as [Fractals of a Criminal Mind](https://archiveofourown.org/works/6106387/chapters/13996465) (my other, less messed up criminal!Loki story). I just kept having difficulty getting it penned/finished. BUT I FINALLY MANAGED IT THE OTHER DAY. 
> 
> So, while I know everyone is looking for fluff... I really just couldn't resist _finally_ posting this sucker and getting it off my list. So, I hope you enjoy!
> 
> (And much love to **StagLynxSpider** for reading and giving her opinion on it and the flow! ♥)

Clint didn't mind working at Hills Penitentiary. The hours were good, he liked his co-workers and the pay was above standard for security guards - probably because they were guarding some of the most horrible and insane criminals in the country. 

Luckily, they had an amazing security expert.

"Morning, Princess."

Unfortunately, said security expert seemed to have a death wish.

The second Clint heard those words and said by that particular voice, he was almost running down the corridor in order to find Tony Stark's insane ass and drag him away from the most dangerous person in the place.

He found Tony standing by Loki's cell which, unlike the others, was made with old-style bars if only so they could keep Loki in sight at all times.

The angle that Clint had approached from allowed the guard to get a good look at the two men. Loki was sitting on his bed, legs crossed, no shoes and playing with a bit of string. He was looping the thread between his fingers in mindless motions that created geometrical patterns as often as it destroyed them. 

"Stark," Loki greeted with a smirk already pulling at his mouth. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"A pleasure, huh?" Tony grinned widely and leaned slightly against the bars. He had one hand wrapped around the metal and his fingers were lightly stroking along it, instantly catching the criminal's attention. "Well, sorry to say it, honey, but I'm bored, only reason to come see your crazy face."

Loki's gaze pulled back to Tony's, his eyes glinting a manic green as his fingers continued to play with the strings; finding the needed loops without having to look at it. 

People often made the deadly mistake of thinking that Loki wasn't constantly aware of what he and others were doing, regardless of where his gaze might actually fall. The guards knew it; they'd seen too many people get killed because they weren't paranoid enough.

Tony knew it, but he didn't fear it. He saw a challenge in it. Which was probably why Loki actually talked to him. 

"Is it truly boredom, Stark?" Loki enquired, his words flat but his eyes alight with a terrifying glee. "You come to see me so frequently, after all. Tell me, am I your favourite inmate?"

Tony fluttered his eyelashes. "Oh sweetie, you know no one shines as bright as you."

He was rewarded with Loki's low chuckle and the lift of his lips in an even bigger smile, but no, Clint wasn't letting this conversation continue any longer.

"Stark!" He called sharply watching as Tony grimaced at the shout of his name. He also rolled his eyes openly, making Loki huff out a soft laugh that almost made Clint shiver. He stopped beside the security expert and told him firmly, "Stop taunting Laufeyson." 

Clint knew it would fall on deaf ears, but damn it, he had to try.

"Why, exactly?" Tony asked, tilting his head in a way that put him too close to Loki's cell for Clint's comfort. "Crazy is all locked up with a thrown away key."

Clint reached out for the other man and pulled him away from the bars despite Tony's glare and the brief tightening of the brunet's fingers on metal before he acquiesced. Clint was just glad to get him out of Loki's reach.

"You know he's not to be trusted," Clint answered, glancing at Loki and looking into that mad, violent stare before dragging his gaze back to Tony. "You want to play with someone? Try the less homicidal psychopaths."

"I do your security here," Tony argued, irritation obvious in his voice. "Why would I talk to the people who _aren't_ a potential threat to it?"

"You truly think I haven't broken your little codes numerous times?" Loki drawled. "You think my continued presence in this establishment is not something I have chosen?"

Tony's eyes narrowed and he was about to respond but Clint beat him to it. "He's just messing with you." He ignored Loki in order to keep his attention firmly on Tony. "If he knew it, he'd be out already."

Which was a thought that Clint didn't like to contemplate as he knew if Loki got out of his cage, it would be a bloody massacre and Tony would be top of the torture to death list.

Which was why Clint and the other guards had taken it upon themselves to watch out for Tony. They didn't want him blindly strolling into one of Loki's traps because he was too arrogant to see sense. Tony might be a master of security and too smart for his own good, but he was still a civilian and Clint didn't want to be the one who found Tony's corpse.

Tony still didn't look happy at Clint's interruption of his suicidal chat with Loki, but Clint didn't care. He also started tugging the smaller man away from the staring contest he was conducting with the most ruthless and intelligent criminal they had.

He was still trying to pull a resistant Tony away when Loki chuckled again from his cell, the sound making Clint's blood run cold. "Go, go, little Stark," Loki practically crooned. "I will see you again soon."

Clint took that as a good reason not to take no for an answer as he dragged Tony more forcefully away from the cell. Tony was forced to fall into step with Clint, but it didn't stop him from glaring, "I was _fine_ , Barton."

"No one's fine when they're around Laufeyson."

Tony made a scoffing noise but otherwise didn't reply. Clint just counted his blessings that he'd found the other man before something had happened. Loki was in the last cell in the cell-block with no one around him during the day and at least three empty cells between him and others at night. They didn't even let Loki leave the cell anymore, it was just too dangerous. 

It made it a perfect, secluded place for a caged psychopath to reach out, grab and snap an irritating security specialist's neck.

Clint just made a mental note to keep a closer eye on Tony during the day. He knew the man was brilliant, but like a cat with curiosity, Clint just couldn't trust him to stay away.

He hoped, at least, that Tony wouldn't be stupid enough to go back again alone.

* * *

Tony Stark had been doing the security at Hills Penitentiary for five years. Loki Laufeyson had been a prisoner for two. 

Loki had been known for killing prison staff and other inmates for his own amusement. Tony had been known for his unbeatable security and inescapable cells.

Tony liked to taunt, insult and argue with Loki and Loki liked to let him.

Loki had slipped free from his guards during his first six months in the prison and had cornered and stabbed Tony in the stomach. 

The moment he was out of the hospital, Tony had gone up to Loki's cell, smiled with teeth and promised, " _Oh, you can't get rid of me that easily._ "

Loki had only grinned.

* * *

Tony wasn't stupid, far from it actually, but what Clint Barton and his other babysitters didn't know was that half the time, Tony let the guards find him.

It meant that they didn't expect it when he made his was back to see Loki on the evening shifts when there was far less security. The shifts were all terribly predictable and the cameras easy to manipulate, especially for someone whose job was to make sure a place that ran on routine still managed to be inescapable. 

He had to wait until one a.m. but Tony still made his way back to Loki.

The security footage was looped, the guards were avoided and the criminals were either sleeping in their cells or knew better than to _dare_ say a word about what they saw or heard. No one wanted to be on the receiving end of Loki Laufeyson's wrath.

Tony reached the other man's cell where it was dark and quiet. He couldn't see Loki at first, but Tony just pulled out a small torch that he pointed at the ceiling as he flicked it on. The light revealed Loki's widely grinning face that was only inches from his own and pressed against the bars.

Tony didn't flinch at how close the criminal was, if anything, he expected it. Loki's arms were hanging casually through the gaps as he looked at his late night visitor.

"Hello, Stark," Loki all but purred. "Have you missed me?"

Tony just grinned brightly in the face of Loki's mania and delight. "Depends, Princess; are you going to prove more interesting then the people I've dealt with all day?"

Loki raised a hand and beckoned for the smaller man to step even closer, to move near enough to touch. "Come here, my dear, and we shall see."

The smile that pulled at Tony's mouth had enough sharp edges to catch and hold Loki's attention like a sparkling jewel. But the specialist didn't step near, Tony stayed just out of reach as he replied, "You say you've cracked my codes. I want you to tell me how."

Loki sighed, loud and disappointed. He also pulled his hands slowly back inside the bars and tucked them behind his back as he straightened and stared at the other man. His gaze travelled over Tony's shadowed form in a way that was almost hungry, even if that desire never entered his voice. "And why would I tell you, Stark? What could you offer me that would be worth my honesty?"

Tony just grinned, more than ready to meet that challenge. "I'm a pretty flexible guy. Let's see if we can come to an arrangement."

Loki's smile was sharp as a blade in the shadows of the torchlight.

* * *

They said that genius came in all shapes and sizes. They said that there was a fine line between genius and insanity.

They said a lot of things about danger, curiosity and madness, but very few people ever listened to those warnings.

* * *

It was five months after Clint caught Tony Stark at Loki Laufeyson’s cells that the prison break happened. It was the middle of the night, it was pure fucking _chaos_ and there was nothing to do but try and bring some kind of order to the asylum.

Clint had been caught up in policies, procedures and making sure everyone was confined back in their cells and that no one was hurt.

The radio had said from the beginning that Loki was still caged; the right code had been given, and the right voice had spoken. No one had double-checked or doubted, they didn’t have time, not with so many other inmates on the loose.

But Loki was a master mimic, and no one should have forgotten. Loki wasn’t above coercion and torture and both of those when applied by that particular criminal could loosen anyone's tongue.

No one should have forgotten that Loki Laufeyson shouldn’t be underestimated.

Because when the dust was settled and everyone was counting heads, they noticed with sudden dread and horror that two people were missing.

Loki Laufeyson was gone, and so was Tony Stark.

* * *

Anthony had been of great interest to Loki from the moment they met.

He was smart, he was interesting and he was _brazen_. He didn’t fear Loki, he respected him, he was _curious_ and Loki was entertained by it.

Stabbing Anthony after his escape and so short in their acquaintance? Well, that had been just a bit of fun. Loki had always had much more _delightful_ things planned for the other man when freedom was once more in his grasp.

Loki had been looking forward to the day when a cell was no longer between them. When he had a knife in his hand and blood to spill. When Anthony was lying underneath him and at Loki's non-existent mercy, looking up at him with such expressive brown eyes and those precious, soft lips.

Loki had spent months counting the days with something that bordered on impatience.

The look behind Anthony's eyes when he tried to understand Loki (and succeeded, far more than any other before him) and the subtleties layered between his words, it was enough to send a rush through Loki's blood and to make his gaze follow Anthony like a coveted prize.

When the brunet visited him in the evenings, his eyes flaring with intelligence and curiosity, Loki settled in to watch without interruption, to lick his lips and catalogue a genius intellect and plan just what he would do the next time the man was close enough to grasp.

When the brunet was absent, locked behind doors and walls and monitoring cameras, Loki would often lie down on his bed, take himself in hand and stroke himself to completion; staring at the camera in his cell and wondering if deep brown eyes might just be looking back.

Loki desired Anthony in more ways than one, and Loki Laufeyson always got what he wanted.

In fact, he would orchestrate a prison break just to steal it.

* * *

Tony woke up slowly with a slightly pounding head and the movement around him that indicated he was in a car. He opened his eyes and saw it was actually the back of an ambulance that was filled with equipment. He was on a gurney and he was momentarily confused, but then he saw someone stand from where they were seated beside him. He saw blood-splattered prison-issue clothes, a wide, sharp smirk and bright green eyes as they moved to lean over him. 

He felt long fingers on either side of his cheeks as Loki loomed above him, there were even a few flecks of blood on his face. He was so close Tony could feel his breath. He was so close that Tony could see the scars ringing his mouth from the thread that had once marred them. The thread that was either self-inflicted or done by an enemy, but no one quite knew and while Tony had dared to ask, he always got a different story if Loki even answered him at all.

"Hello, my sweet," Loki whispered, stroking Tony's skin with smooth fingertips.

He then laughed; a crazed, blissful sound that bubbled in his chest before escaping to echo around the vehicle. It ended in a delighted giggle. It ended in Loki bringing his mouth down and pressing his lips against Tony's-

-it ended when a split-second later, Tony's hand was grabbing Loki's dark, tangled hair and pulling the criminal further on top of him. It ended with Tony kissing him back harshly and moaning into his mouth.

Loki just laughed once more and climbed on top of the gurney to straddle Tony and kiss him even harder.

* * *

The first time Loki kissed Anthony, it was just before he stabbed him. 

Loki had placed his thigh between Anthony's legs and pressed him up against a hallway wall. He'd kissed him with all the lust that had been building since the man first boldly challenged him - since the man had been brilliant enough to have _beaten_ him. Anthony had kissed him back without hesitance and Loki had wanted to do more, to taste every inch of that mouth, but instead, he had stabbed him in the stomach. Moments later he had been tackled by the guards that Loki had heard running towards them, unaware of the kiss, unaware of the touch and Loki had smiled.

Loki had also made sure that when he aimed his knife, he stabbed Anthony in a place where he would survive it.

Anthony knew-- _of course he knew_ \--and he continued to visit Loki. 

He kissed Loki against the bars of his cell; he fought Loki with words of wit and vicious insults, and when he was fully recovered, Anthony let himself into Loki's cell and they fucked for the first time, tangling themselves in the sheets of the criminal's bed; biting hard enough to draw blood, groaning loud enough to wake the other inmates and clinging hard enough to leave beautiful, deep marks.

Anthony was just as sharp, smart, ruthless and _mad_ as Loki and he didn’t hesitate to show it, he didn’t hesitate to _admit_ it - and Loki fell in love with him for it. 

He spent his days with Anthony on his mind and spent his nights with Anthony in his bed and curled up against him.

Loki promised to take him away a year into their affair. He promised their escape would be grand and how they would spread havoc together on all the cities that they roamed. Anthony had just winked at him, tapped Loki's cheek and whispered, " _when you're smart enough to break yourself out of my system, Lokicakes, I'll let you steal me away._ "

And Loki had accepted it, Loki had _done_ it. Because he would do anything for his Anthony; his bright, beautiful, insane criminal. His sweet and dark delight. Loki had come to Hills Penitentiary preparing to be bored. He had not intended to feel _alive_.

And when Anthony had woken up, unharmed and happy and _his_ on the ambulance gurney, Loki had been ecstatic. As they tore away in the middle of the night and Anthony kissed him, Loki had felt more of a rush then the break-out itself.

When they pulled their mouths away to gasp, Anthony's eyes had shone like stars as he smiled as dark as Loki had ever seen.

"Oh, Princess," he purred, "I always knew you were the one for me."

Loki had just kissed Anthony again; high on adrenaline, lust and glee.

Because, oh, Loki was going to have so much _fun_ now that he was free - now that he had Anthony by his side; a partner to enjoy his chaos with him and to rain it down on the world just as deadly and beautifully.

**Author's Note:**

> WELCOME TO THE TWISTED, FLUFFY, MESSED UP GOODNESS THAT IS LOKI AND TONY BEING HOT AND INSANE FOR EACH OTHER! This is very much a sort of Joker/Harlequin set up only with both of them being far more dedicated, committed, affectionate and mutually in love with each other. 
> 
> I hope you enjoyed!
> 
> p.s. The choppy format of the text with small scene breaks was done to further highlight the almost... jagged nature of how the boys function in this. It seemed fitting :)

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Lips like Fire (blood like gasoline)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14666256) by [dls](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dls/pseuds/dls)




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